“The Marin County Bicycle Coalition (MCBC) invites the public to join in the celebration of the completion of the Cal Park Tunnel, a $27 million alternative transportation facility. The tunnel will provide a safe, easy and fast connection between San Rafael and Larkspur for bicyclists and pedestrians and will eventually accommodate the SMART train.

A ribbon cutting ceremony hosted by the County of Marin and SMART will take place at the south portal (near the Century Larkspur Landing movie theater) at 3 pm on Friday, December 10, followed by bike rides through the tunnel and a post-event gathering at Marin Brewing Company.

Join us for this momentous occasion as we celebrate the completion of a major gap in Marin’s bicycle network and the North-South Greenway. The Cal Park Tunnel has been a vision of MCBC since the organization formed 12 years ago and for local bike advocates for at least a decade prior to our incorporating. The conversion of an old railroad tunnel for bicycle and pedestrian use was a dream that’s been realized, and we encourage everyone to come celebrate this major accomplishment.

The first downhill time-trial race took place in Fairfax, California on October 21, 1976 on a fireroad now referred to as Repack Road, due to the need to repack hub bearings after a descent (the hub brakes used at the time would overheat, causing the grease within the hub to break down). Ten riders descended 1300 feet of Repack in about 5 minutes; the winner, Alan Bonds, was also the only one to make it to the finish line. The first bikes used for descending were known as “clunkers” or “paperboy bikes”: coaster brake cruisers using balloon tires first imported to America by Ignatz Schwinn. By 1979, two organizers and competitors of the Repack downhill, Charlie Kelley and Gary Fisher founded the company which named the sport, MountainBikes.